Raiders Round 2 S Treydan Stukes is smart, fast 'days of the dumb jock are over'

In the weeks leading into the draft, there were rumblings that Treydan Stukes was rising up draft boards. The first thing that probably opened some eyes was his blistering 4.33 40-yard dash at the scouting combine. That's speed you can't teach. In fact, Stukes has quite a few physical abilities you can't teach.

The thing is though, it isn't just the physical gifts coaching staff won't have to teach with Stukes. Because not only is he super fast, he's super smart as well.

Stukes had a 4.0 GPA in high school and was named to the All BIG12 Academic Honor Roll at Arizona, graduating in 2024 with a degree in sports and society. So, yeah, he's more than just raw athleticism. He can process too.

"We used to have a coach that said 'the days of the dumb jock are over,' and it's very true," said Stukes. "You have to be smart to play high-level football. There's a lot of moving parts, there's a lot of things going on and if you want to be able to keep up and adjust in real time you've got to have the right processing power to be able to do so. Especially playing safety because you're the quarterback of the defense. So, just having that higher intellect and continuing to train my brain just helps me process things faster and digest and do different things on the field and be able to make those real time decisions, snap decisions in seconds."

Raiders GM John Spytek has often said he places a lot on character and meeting prospects. Once the game tape checked out, the character boxes clearly checked off as well.

Stukes was a three-time Captain for the Wildcats who, during his rehab from an ACL injury, earned the nickname 'Coach Stukes.' Add that 6-1, 193-pounder picked off four passes last season and you can see why the Raiders saw him as a pretty clean prospect at 38 overall in the second round.

This article originally appeared on Raiders Wire: Raiders Round 2 S Treydan Stukes is smart, fast 'days of the dumb jock are over'